MOSCOW - Russias main goal over the next 30-50 years is to build a liberal empire, Anatoly Chubais, head of RAO Unified Energy Systems of Russia, said at a news conference in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

In his opinion, Russia should join neither the European Union nor NATO. However, it is necessary to take into account the contours of the new emerging world, which will unite the United States, the European Union, Japan and Russia. According to Mr. Chubais, the creation of a single economic space, linking together Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, will be a direct step towards the establishment of the empire.

The GDP of these countries accounts for 94 percent of the GDP of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Russias GDP totaled $346bn in 2002, Ukraines GDP was $41bn, while Belarus GDP amounted to $14bn, and the GDP of Kazakhstan was $6bn. Russia has the highest level of wages and pensions among the CIS countries.

On September 3, Mr. Chubais announced his intention to run for the parliamentary election as a candidate from the SPS (Union of Right Forces) party. And on September 8, Anatoly Chubais, became one of the partys leaders, along with Boris Nemtsov and Irina Khakamada. However, Mr. Chubais said he did not plan to leave his post as RAO UES chief, as there were legal grounds for him to combine the two positions. At the same time, the RAO UES chief admitted that in this case, any problems in the Russian electricity system would directly affect the rating of the SPS party. In view of this, he is going to exercise tight control over the situation in RAO UES.

So combined, they total 17.6% Russian GDP...that not count this year 7% growth, others not show much growth. This year they equal 16.4%. With PPP calculation that make Russia 8th largest economy this year.

The only reason why I ask is because I own a bodyshop and do some work for quite a few Russians in my area just outside of Washington D.C. and almost all of them do not speak highly of Mr. Putin. I was wondering if there is any talk like this in Russia or is there still fear of the Government for saying such things

5
posted on 09/29/2003 9:10:19 PM PDT
by MJY1288
(Who Would the Terrorist Vote For ??????)

Since '71 peoples say what want to...though not to loud or in group. No, today say what like. Peoples always grumble and those who left, they often have block on shoulder and grudge for one reason or other or only wish to believe worse. Ask some time what they not like about him in particular and see how much they know what goes on.

>>>>>Huntingdon, in The Clash of Civilizations, lists Orthodox and Western as separate civilizations. While this neatly fit the Serbian-Croatian wars of the 90's, I'm not sure I agree with his assessment. Or perhaps it was his lumping of the godless parts of Europe in with the US that was the problem. Or maybe I'm being too myopic about the Blue America/Red America conflict to see how different Orthodox and Western societies really are.<<<<<

I agree with you to a large extent, personally I think that there should be a slight alteration to the model which would posit four quasi-civilisations which share sufficient similarities to become a quasi-super-civilisation. Orthodoxy, Western Europe (excluding the U.K.), Latin America, and the Anglophone world (the U.K., the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand). Huntingdon's book provides much food for thought be he is too keen to fit everybody into the simple civilisational model, allowing a two-layer system in relation to 'Christendom' can provide a better model of how the relationships actually work.

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